Developmental Biology 208, 253–254 (1999)
Article ID dbio.1999.9238, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
IN MEMORIAM
Nigel Holder (July 2, 1953–December 11, 1998)
Nigel Holder died on December 11, 1998, at the tragically
young age of 45. Nigel was a much loved and respected
scientist whose influence was diverse and far reaching. He
led an internationally respected research group, established
a successful developmental biology research centre, headed
one of the largest and most successful life science departments in the United Kingdom, and was instrumental in
showing the way forward for biomedical research within
the university community.
Nigel was born and spent most of his life in London, a fact
immediately apparent in conversation— even his laughter
had a north London accent. He did his undergraduate degree
in Botany at Imperial College, then switched to developmental biology for his Ph.D., studying chick limb development under the supervision of Lewis Wolpert. His interest
in limb patterning continued in Susan Bryant’s lab at Irvine
where he did postdoctoral research on amphibian limb
regeneration.
At the age of just 25, Nigel accepted a lectureship in the
Anatomy Department at King’s College London, where in
addition to coping with a huge teaching and administrative
load, he established a successful research group studying
amphibian limb and CNS development and regeneration.
He wrote an undergraduate developmental biology textbook with Virginia Walbot, organised several international
conferences, became a member of the Editorial Advisory
Board of Development, and began a long-standing association with the British Society for Developmental Biology. He
was elected Reader in 1984, appointed to a professorial chair
in 1993, and awarded a BBSRC Senior Research Fellowship
in 1994.
The late 1980s saw major advances in understanding the
patterning of the Drosophila embryo through a combination of embryological, genetic, and molecular biology techniques. Nigel realised that the future for studies of vertebrate development lay in adopting a similar multifaceted
research strategy. He felt that the traditional departmental
structure within universities was not conducive to this type
of interdisciplinary research and initiated radical plans to
relocate scientists from several departments who possessed
widely differing experimental expertise but who shared a
common interest in developmental biology.
The establishment of the Developmental Biology Research Centre (DBRC) at King’s College London in 1991 was
one of the major achievements of Nigel’s career. To bring
together all of the research groups that joined the Centre
meant breaking down departmental divisions that had been
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in existence for over 100 years. Under Nigel’s directorship,
the DBRC was a huge success; grant income soared, as did
publications, and many enjoyable and lasting collaborations
were established. Without doubt, the strength of the DBRC
lay in the friendly and cooperative research environment
engendered by Nigel’s and Roger Patient’s leadership.
In 1997, Nigel accepted another major challenge and
became Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy
and Developmental Biology at University College London
(UCL). Many of Nigel’s colleagues believed this to be a risky
move. The Department was already one of the largest and
most successful in the United Kingdom and it was not easy
to see how Nigel might move it forward into the 21st
century. However, Nigel’s administrative skill, straightforward manner, and enthusiastic approach proved a huge
success and the pace at which the Department has changed
in the past year has been remarkable—particularly once
again in terms of communication. Nigel was able to get
people talking to each other and making compromises for
the common good. He was able to see not just where
scientific research is now, but where it may be in 5 or 10
years’ time. There is no doubt that his innovative plans will
continue to shape both research and teaching at the College
for years to come.
Nigel had the ability to make people feel comfortable and
at ease and this made him a great communicator and leader.
He used his intelligence, power, and influence wisely, and
universally gained the trust of those around him. Nigel had
the ability to make things happen. When presented with a
good idea, he would spend his time considering the merits
of the idea, not the possible logistical problems that the
implementation of the idea might cause. He knew that if
something was really worthwhile, then people could be
persuaded, rules could be bent, and impossible hurdles
could be overcome to make the most problematic of plans
come to fruition.
Nigel had a true passion for science and throughout his
career, his research was directed at understanding the
mechanisms that underlie the patterning of cells and tissues in the vertebrate embryo. In 1988, Nigel visited the
University of Oregon to learn more about zebrafish development and upon his return, he began to refocus his
laboratory research upon CNS patterning in zebrafish embryos. There was very little funding available initially; a
timed light– dark cycle for the breeding fish meant working
14 hours between removing the tank covers in the morning
and putting them back on again late at night. However, the
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In Memoriam: Nigel Holder
launch of the DBRC saw the construction of a 300-tank
facility and our move to UCL allowed further expansion,
with the College generously funding a 1500-tank facility
that housed the fish in resplendent luxury.
In recent years, Nigel had become interested in the
mechanisms responsible for segmental patterning of hindbrain rhombomeres and of somites. Much of his research
has focussed upon the role of Eph family receptor tyrosine
kinases in mediating cell behaviour at the boundaries
between segments. Papers in Development, Nature, and
Genes and Development all attest to the contributions that
his research group has made within this field. The zebrafish
research group at UCL has also been involved in a variety of
genetic screens to identify mutations affecting embryonic
patterning in zebrafish. It is perhaps fitting that pectoral fin
development completely fails to occur in one novel mutant
line, thus reaffirming Nigel’s interest in vertebrate limb
development.
Looking to the future, Nigel was well aware that largescale genomics projects would make an enormous impact
on developmental biology research. At the time of his death
he was setting in motion plans that would expand functional genomics, bioinformatics, and genetics at UCL, so
that in the future, researchers would continue to be in an
environment that maximally benefitted scientific progress.
There are many ways to be a successful scientist; Nigel
just chose the best way—to have endless enthusiasm and to
take real pleasure from doing science. He disliked competition and encouraged cooperation and collaboration whenever possible. Indeed in the past 10 years, the majority of
Nigel’s grants and all 30 of his primary research papers have
involved collaborations with people from other research
groups. Nigel was great fun to be around and his scientific
colleagues frequently became close personal friends. His
enthusiasm, humour, inventiveness, and energy were infectious and made him the most treasured of colleagues. Nigel
had that rare gift of genuinely caring about other people,
their worries, their successes, and their failures. He connected quickly with those that he met and touched many of
our lives. He simply loved life, warts and all, and lived his
own life to the fullest.
In 1992, Nigel was diagnosed with a rare form of vasculitis which at times was terribly debilitating and painful. He
continued to work with undiminished enthusiasm and it is
all the more remarkable that many of his major scientific
achievements were attained despite the disease. He coped
with his illness with bravery, with dignity, and, as ever,
with humour. It is a tragic irony that in the past year,
Nigel’s health had improved considerably and he appeared
to be in better shape than at any time since contracting the
disease.
Outside of science, Nigel was a talented golfer and
cricketer and a keen (if slightly vicious) football and squash
player. He read biographies voraciously, was a lifelong
Spurs fan, always won at Trivial Pursuit, listened to Leonard Cohen, and admired Egon Schiele. He loved to laugh,
to endlessly shoot the breeze, and to spend lazy days with
friends and family. Nigel was a warm and loving husband
and father who never allowed work to dominate his home
life. He and his wife Alyson have two children, Daniel age
6 and Michael who was just two weeks old when Nigel
died.
A Commemoration Meeting was held on January 18,
1999, the date that Nigel was due to give his inaugural
lecture as Professor and Head of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at UCL. This very touching and poignant meeting combined science with personal recollection and was a
fitting tribute to an influential and greatly admired scientist.
SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Brennan, C., Monschau, B., Lindberg, R., Guthrie, B., Drescher, U.,
Bonhoeffer, F., and Holder, N. (1997). Two Eph receptor tyrosine
kinase ligands control axon growth and may be involved in the
creation of the retino-tectal map in the zebrafish. Development
124, 655– 664.
Durbin, L., Brennan, C., Shiomi, K., Cooke, J., Barrios, A., Shanmugalingam, S., Guthrie, B., Lindberg, R., and Holder, N. (1998).
Eph signalling is required for segmentation and differentiation of
the somites. Genes Dev. 12, 3096 –3109.
Griffin, K., Patient, R., and Holder, N. (1995). Analysis of FGF
function in normal and No Tail zebrafish embryos reveals
separate mechanisms for the formation of the trunk and the tail.
Development 121, 2983–2994.
Holder, N., and Klein, R. (1999). Eph receptors and ephrins:
Effectors of morphogenesis. Development, in press.
Rodaway, A., Takeda, H., Koshida, S., Price, B., Smith, J., Patient,
R., and Holder, N. (1999). Induction of the mesendoderm in the
zebrafish germ ring by yolk cell derived TGFb family signals:
Discrimination of mesoderm and endoderm by FGF. Submitted
for publication.
Wilson, S., Brennan, C., Macdonald, R., Brand, M., and Holder, N.
(1997). Analysis of axon tract formation in the zebrafish brain:
The role of territories of gene expression and their boundaries.
Cell Tissue Res. 290, 189 –196.
Xu, Q., Alldus, G., Macdonald, R., Wilkinson, D., and Holder, N.
(1996). Function of the Eph-related receptor tyrosine kinase gene
rtk1 is required for regional specification in the zebrafish forebrain. Nature 381, 319 –322.
STEPHEN WILSON
Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology
University College London
Copyright © 1999 by Academic Press. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.